Comparing Texts — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. A folktale about a clever fox outsmarting a lion teaches that wit beats strength. A news article reports on how small companies outperform large corporations through innovation. How do these texts relate?
A) They are completely unrelated because one is fiction and one is nonfiction
B) They share a similar theme — cleverness and creativity can overcome size and power
C) The folktale is more accurate because it is older
D) The news article disproves the lesson of the folktale
Both texts show cleverness overcoming raw power: the fox outsmarts the lion and small companies outperform large ones through innovation, proving the theme crosses genres.
2. A poem describes the ocean as a 'restless giant that swallows the shore.' A science text explains coastal erosion caused by wave action. What is the main difference in how they present the same idea?
A) The poem is wrong about the ocean
B) The science text uses figurative language while the poem uses facts
C) The poem uses figurative language to create feeling, while the science text uses precise language to explain a process
D) The science text and the poem have nothing in common
The poem's metaphor ("restless giant") stirs emotion through figurative language, while the science text uses precise, literal language to explain how waves cause coastal erosion.
3. Text A is a historical fiction novel set during the Gold Rush. Text B is a textbook chapter about the Gold Rush. Which statement BEST describes the difference?
A) Text A helps readers experience what life felt like, while Text B provides verified historical facts
B) Text A is always more accurate because novels require more research
C) Text B cannot be trusted because textbooks are boring
D) Both texts contain only invented information
Historical fiction lets readers feel what daily life was like through invented characters and scenes, while the textbook chapter sticks to verified facts and dates about the Gold Rush.
4. Why might a reader benefit from reading both a memoir and a documentary script about the same historical event?
A) Because one will always be wrong and the other right
B) Because the memoir offers personal emotion and memory, while the documentary provides broader facts and multiple viewpoints
C) Because memoirs are always shorter and easier to read
D) Because documentary scripts contain no facts at all
A memoir gives one person's emotional, first-hand perspective, while a documentary script gathers broader facts and multiple viewpoints, so reading both builds a fuller picture.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. The genre of a text influences how the author conveys the theme to the reader.
Genre determines the tools an author uses -- a fable conveys its theme through a moral, while a biography conveys it through real-life events.
2. Fiction uses plot and character development, while nonfiction relies on facts and evidence to support ideas.
Fiction builds ideas through plot twists and character growth, while nonfiction supports its ideas with verifiable facts and evidence the reader can check.
3. A myth may use supernatural characters like gods to explain nature, while a science text uses observation and data.
Myths explain natural events through supernatural characters like gods and monsters, while science texts explain the same events through observation and data.
4. Figurative language such as metaphors and similes is more commonly found in poetry and fiction than in informational texts.
Poetry and fiction rely on figurative language like metaphors and similes to create vivid images, while informational texts stick mostly to literal, precise language.
5. Reading the same topic across genres gives a reader both emotional insight and factual knowledge.
Reading a poem and an article about the same topic gives you both emotional insight (how it feels) and factual knowledge (how it works).